Firmware Electric Car specifically reduces battery capacity

The company Tesla Motors has announced a major change in its model range: Electric Car – Tesla S will no longer be available in the base price of 52,400 U.S. dollars.

However, those who ordered the basic package to the announcement, will receive their cars, but it will be an older version, but with a cut-down features – restrictions will be set programmatically in firmware of the car.

So far, Tesla brand offers the only model of the car Tesla S in two versions that differ, in fact, only the battery. Junior model was equipped with a battery of 40 kW ∙ h and provided mileage up to 250 km on one full charge. Older model, the price of 10,000 dollars more, the battery is equipped with a 60 kW ∙ h, suggesting the customers already run up to 370 km. Producers decided to reduce the price of production, switching to a single complete set of Tesla S, as the younger version chosen, only 4% of buyers.

So, on an assembly line produced only one model with a battery of 60 kilowatt-hours. At the same time, the company has remained a solid order book for younger version – to fulfill these orders, a special firmware that is limited to the capacity of a single battery up to 40 kilowatt-hours. As a consolation prize, the lucky ones who will get the junior model of the new series will get better acceleration and other performance results, as the older model. Donate only have to run.

The situation is anecdotal: you buy a fashionable and expensive electric car for 52,400 dollars, but its software is artificially “strangling” capacious battery, leaving one-third of its capacity unused. On the other hand, over the last fifty years have resorted to such tricks, many manufacturers – issued several products at different prices, but they are all built on the same technological base. To take full advantage of the real possibilities of the goods, in this case – the electric vehicle, the buyer will have to pay an additional 10 thousand dollars, receiving only a modified firmware that is a set of programs that control the electronics and mechanics of the car.

Of course, for a company Tesla, as the manufacturer, the new move looks a winner all around. Product assembly is simplified, and the buyers can get additional features in the form of a software update for the already purchased vehicles. Perhaps it is because auto sales will look in the future – all buyers are initially very “charged” version of the car, but for the “release” of each new option will have to pay separately. Unlocking options will then be performed by software.

We can only guess how soon enthusiasts find a way to hack the firmware on the Tesla S. It will be a real “acceleration” of equipment, as it was fashionable to call the increase in the frequency of inexpensive processors for performance at the most expensive models. It will also be interesting to know whether the company will attempt to welcome Tesla “acceleration” of their vehicles without paying on-a difference of 10 000 dollars, or try to stop such attempts in the bud.